A master of Afro-Caribbean choreography, Garth Fagan is a native of Jamaica widely known for his Tony Award winning choreography of Disney’s THE LION KING.

Athletic, angular and fresh modern dance.

Fagan’s dances are perhaps the most profound and original in contemporary dance today.

Critics have called Garth Fagan “a true original,” “a genuine leader,” and “One of the gret reformers of modern dance.”

Fagan is the founder and artistic director of the award-winning and internationally acclaimed Garth Fagan Dance, now celebrating over 40 years.

For his path-breaking choreography for Disney’s THE LION KING, Fagan was award the prestigious 1998 Tony Award for Best Choreography.

Fagan is the recipient of the 2001 Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award, established to honor those great choreographers who have dedicated their lives and talent to the creation of our modern dance heritage.

Among countless awards Fagan is the recipient of a Guggenhiem Fellowship, the prestigious three-year Choreography Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and the 2012 Essie Calhoun Diversity in the Arts Award.

Garth Fagan Dance is "unfailingly original" declares The New York Times.

Garth Fagan Dance has been seen nationally on “The Tonight Show,” PBS’ “Great Performances – Dance in America”, the 66th Annual Academy Awards, and the historic opening of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

Fagan’s ever-evolving dance language draws on many sources: sense of weight in modern dance, torso-centered movement and energy of Afro-Caribbean, speed and precision of ballet, and the rule-breaking experimentation of the post-moderns.

Those familiar with modern dance consider Fagan’s lifetime body of work is quite revered.

Garth Fagan has also produced commissioned pieces for The Dance Theater of Harlem, The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and The New York City Ballet.

Garth Fagan is making history – through his innovative choreography, which incorporates ballet, Afro-Caribbean and modern dance.

Fagan describes his love of dance as an art form: “Movement in invention, coming up with new moves, new steps that nobody has ever seen before.”

One of Fagan’s goals for THE LION KING was to make sure youngsters coming to the theater could see different styles of dancing.

In New York City, Fagan studied with Martha Graham, Jose Limon, Mary Hinkson, and Alvin Ailey, who were all central to his development.

Garth Fagan Dance has performed throughout the United States, Europe, Africa, Asia, the Near and Middle East, North and South America, New Zealand, Australia, and the West Indies.

His choreography has kept audiences and critics in thrall for decades.

The movements are chiseled and precise, yet viewers should come away with an impression of vital depth.

The “fearless” dances are ‘able to sustain long adagio balances, to change direction in mid-air, to vary the dynamic of a turn, to stop on a dime.”

Consider the Fagan program a prime example of the versatility and sophistication of concert dance in this new century.

The Chicago Sun-Times says Fagan is a “choreographer whose gift for abstraction is matched by a subtle and powerful ability to suggest relationships in pure dance terms. Fagan’s dancers feature all sizes, shaped and types wholly unified in their virtuosic interpretation of his work.”

About Garth Fagan Dance

Garth Fagan Dance

Mission StatementThe mission of Garth Fagan Dance is to conduct cultural, educational and charitable activities including furtherance of the Founding Artistic Director's artistic vision, production of dance theatre of the highest quality, development of new works by the Founding Artistic Director, development of future dancers and expansion of audiences.

BiographyNow in its 40th season, Garth Fagan Dance is “unfailingly original” deemed the The New York Times, which also named the Company’s piece, Mudan 175/39, third of the top six dance watching moments of 2009. Tony award-winning choreographer Garth Fagan’s dancers communicate with unbridled energy the depth, precision, and grace of Fagan’s work. The Company’s “fearless” dancers are "able to sustain long adagio balances, to change direction in mid-air, to vary the dynamic of a turn, to stop on a dime," wrote David Vaughan in Ballet Review. Fagan’s ever-evolving dance language draws on many sources: sense of weight in modern dance, torso-centered movement and energy of Afro-Caribbean, speed and precision of ballet, and the rule breaking experimentation of the post-moderns. The Company has been cited for its excellence and originality with a New York Governor's Arts Award and has claimed five winners of "Bessie" Awards (New York Performance Awards): Garth Fagan, Steve Humphrey, Norwood Pennewell, Natalie Rogers and Sharon Skepple.

The troupe has performed throughout the United States, Europe, Africa, Asia, the Near and Middle East, North and South America, New Zealand, Australia and the West Indies. Foreign tours have included a 13-city tour of The Netherlands; appearances at France's Maison de la Danse and Chateauvallon Festival; Turkey's Istanbul Festival; the New Zealand International Arts Festival; Germany's Internationales Tanzfest N.R.W.; Switzerland's Basel Tanz; the Israel Festival in Jerusalem; the Vienna Festival-Tanz; a tour to Harare, Zimbabwe with the United States Information Agency; and the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy. In 1994, the company opened the then newly renovated American Center in Paris, France. In 1996, principal dancers were invited by the Federation Caledonienne de Danse to perform in "La Nuit des Etoiles" along with members from the New York City Ballet, the Paris Opera Ballet and the Kirov Ballet.

Domestically, the Company has performed at such venues as Jacob's Pillow, Spoleto USA, Dance/Aspen, and the first National Black Arts Festival. Performances in New York City venues include Brooklyn Academy of Music, City Center and frequent seasons at the Joyce Theater. In 1993, Garth Fagan Dance went on a national tour with the Wynton Marsalis Septet performing Fagan's critically acclaimed full-evening length work Griot New York. The company was seen nationally on the "Tonight Show" starring Jay Leno in that same piece and Griot New York aired worldwide on the PBS "Great Performances -- Dance in America" series in the spring of 1995, marking the company’s third appearance on that series.

Principal dancers Norwood Pennewell and Natalie Rogers participated in the "66th Annual Academy Awards" broadcast, joined by principal dancers from seven other major international dance companies. In 2004, the company performed at the historic opening of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. That year also saw the Company as part of the grand opening celebration of Frederick P. Rose Hall at Jazz at Lincoln Center; they later returned in fall 2005 for their 35th Anniversary Season in New York City.

Garth Fagan Dance

Garth Fagan Dance is "unfailingly original" deemed The New York Times, which also named the Company's piece, Mudan 175/39, third of the top six dance watching moments of 2009. Tony award-winning choreographer Garth Fagan's dancers communicate with energy the depth, precision and grace of his work. Fagan's ever-evolving dance language draws on many sources: sense of weight in modern dance, torso-centered movement and energy of Afro-Caribbean, speed and precision of ballet, and the rule-breaking experimentation of the post-moderns.

Des Moines Performing Arts is a private 501 (C) (3) not-for-profit corporation presenting the performing arts to Iowa and the surrounding states. It is the presenter of major Broadway and educational touring companies, performers and groups, and is the performing home of many local and regional groups, including the Des Moines Symphony. Events, dates, times, performers and prices subject to change without notice.